Undergraduate Course Descriptions

TheLSU General Catalog serves as both the official undergraduate and the graduate catalog of LSU and should
be consulted for course decisions. Below you can see a list of undergraduate courses
offered by the Department of Sociology.

SOCL 2001: Introductory Sociology (3)This is a General Education course. Credit will not be given for this course and SOCL
2002. Major subject areas and principles of sociology.

SOCL 2010: Louisiana in a Global Context (3)Introduces students to the history, people and culture of Louisiana through academic
learning and hands on experience.

SOCL 2002 HONORS: Introductory Sociology (3)This is a General Education course. Same as SOCL 2001 with a special honors emphasis
for qualified students. Credit will not be given for this course and SOCL 2001.

SOCL 2201: Introduction to Statistical Analysis (4)Prereq.: MATH 1021 or equivalent. Open to sociology majors; open to others with permission
of instructor. 3 hrs. lecture; 2 hrs. lab Descriptive statistics; inferential statistical
methods including confidence interval estimation and hypothesis testing for one and
two population means and proportions; one-way analysis of variance; simple linear
regression and correlation; analysis of categorical data.

SOCL 2211: Methods of Sociological Research (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 and SOCL 2201 or equivalent. Open to sociology majors; open to
others with permission of instructor. Scientific methods and their application in
sociological research, including problem selection, research design, measurement,
data sources and evaluation of data.

SOCL 2301: Introduction to Crime Studies (3)Fundamentals of the causes, correlates, consequences, and controls of crime in society,
including definitional and methodological issues.

SOCL 2255: Sociology of Sport (3)Application of sociological principles, theories, and methods to the understanding
of sport.

SOCL 2371: Aspects of Federal, State, & Local Law Enforcement (3)Survey of federal, state & local law enforcement agencies origins, powers, and career
expectations.

SOCL 2411: Industrial Sociology (3)Social organization in industry; relation of industry to community and society.

SOCL 2501: Current Social Problems (3)This is a General Education course. Sociological analysis of major social problems
in contemporary society; focus on both the institutional and personal causes and consequences.

SOCL 2505: Marriage and Family (3)This is a General Education course. Current issues and trends regarding marriage and
family.

SOCL 2511: Race Relations (3)Also offered as AAAS 2511. Examines relations among persons of different racial groups
in an interdisciplinary setting that includes sociological, psychological, political,
anthropological and historical viewpoints.

SOCL 3101: Sociological Theory (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Open to sociology majors; open to others with permission
of instructor. Dominant theorists and schools of thought in sociology.

SOCL 3371: Sociology of the Criminal Justice System (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. The criminal justice system and its organizational
components.

SOCL 3401: Sociology of Culture (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Current theoretical perspectives, methodological
issues and empirical work in the sociological study of culture.

SOCL 3505: Poverty in the United States (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or SOCL 2501 or equivalent. Definition of poverty, its meaning,
measurement, causes, correlates and consequences; strategies for its amelioration
and elimination.

SOCL 3510: Criminal Violence (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. An in-depth study of criminal violence, including
its forms, myths and facts regarding victims and offenders, and the causes, consequences
and control of violence.

SOCL 3900: Sociology Internship (1-3)Prereq.: 75 hours of course work completed, 2.50 overall GPA, written consent of department
head and supervising faculty member May be taken for a max. of 3 hrs. of credit. Faculty
supervised field study/research with an agency or organization whose mission is considered
relevant to the student's curriculum.

SOCL 3901: Directed Reading and Research in Sociology (1-3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. May be taken for a max. of 3 sem. hrs. credit. Student
registers with a faculty member before registration to select the area of reading
or research. Topic must not substitute for regularly offered courses unless reading
goes beyond a standard course's offerings.

SOCL 3905 HONORS: Senior Thesis Research (3)Prereq.: SOCL 3901; Open to seniors who are candidates for a bachelor's degree with
honors in sociology. Supervised research and preparation of a senior thesis.

SOCL 3911: Research Practicum in Sociology (1-3)Prereq.: SOCL 2211 and SOCL 3101. May be taken for a max. of 3 sem. hrs. credit. Student
registers with a faculty member and, in consultation, selects a research problem.
Supervised research experience in sociology, including design, execution and reporting.

SOCL 4091: Topics in Sociology (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. May be taken for a max. of 9 sem. hrs. of credit
when topics vary. Recent topics have included:

Corrections

Death and Dying

Environmental Sociology

Policing and Race

Racial Inequality

Science, Technology & Magic

Social Construction of Whiteness

Sociology of Disaster

Sociology of Mental Health

SOCL 4321: The Community (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Classical and contemporary perspectives on the community;
theoretical and methodological issues associated with community studies.

SOCL 4331: Social Stratification (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Class and rank structure in society; determinants
of social class, mobility, and changes in class position of both individuals and groups;
attitudinal and behavioral consequences of class position.

SOCL 4401: The Family (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. The family as a social institution.

SOCL 4421: Political Sociology (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Social structure and politics.

SOCL 4431: Sociology of Education (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Theoretical approaches to understanding the roles
of the institution of education, socialization processes, the linkages between education
and stratification and educational change.

SOCL 4441: Sociology of Religion (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Nature of religion; societal and cultural factors
in religion; role of religion in social change and in contemporary society.

SOCL 4451: Sociology of Medicine (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Sociological analysis of the structure and function
of health agencies and occupations; social and cultural factors in the cause and treatment
of illness.

SOCL 4462: Sociology of Youth and Crime (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. The sociological study of adolescent deviance and
crime; the socio-demographic correlates and social psychological causes of youthful
offending and the juvenile justice system.

SOCL 4463: Gender and Crime (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Examination of gender as a socially, culturally
and historically situated accomplishment and its relationship to criminal offending
and victimization.

SOCL 4464: Rural Crime (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Focuses on the nature, extent, causes, consequences
and control of crime in rural America; topics include violence, property crime, fear
of crime and agricultural and wildlife crime.

SOCL 4465: Drugs and Society (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. An exploration of the net of social relations in
which drugs, drug users, drug dealers and drug laws are embedded; involves critical
analysis of popular claims about drugs and the development of a sociological understanding
of substance use and abuse in the modern U.S.

SOCL 4471: Sociology of Law (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Law and social change; evolution of legal institutions;
group conflict and law; influence of legal controls and sanctions on human behavior.

SOCL 4521: Sociology of Gender (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Gender differences in families, education, the workplace
and the state; understanding the social, economic and cultural factors that shape
the lives of men and women; theoretical analysis of how different women and men experience
the social world.

SOCL 4551: Global Society (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Presents central concepts and major perspectives
on international development, globalization and world poverty and income inequality.

SOCL 4601: Personality and Social Structure (3)Prereq.: SOCL 3601 or PSYC 3140 or equivalent. Interaction of social structures, such
as the family, peer group and school, with the personalities of individuals; processes
by which each affects the other.

SOCL 4621: Small Groups (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Analysis of groups, their structure and functions.

SOCL 4701: Population (3)Prereq.: SOCL 2001 or equivalent. Processes that influence size and composition of
human populations; determinants and consequences of demographic trends.